A Kenosha County couple talked to WISN 12 News about the 5-year-old boy they lost, killed by a suspected repeat drunken driver.

Bailey McCollum's parents want people to remember their son not for the way he died, but for the way he lived.

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"Bailey, he was just so full of energy and life. Every time we went somewhere, his smile just lit up a room," Kirsten McCollum said.

Kirsten and Larry McCollum don't want their child to be remembered as the little Kenosha County boy who was killed by a suspected drunken driver last week. They want people to celebrate Bailey's life with them.

One of dad's favorite memories was singing at church with his little boy in front of the congregation.

"He came and he sang the song and did sign language. It's just so impressive to see a 5-year-old that would get up in front of a crowd and do that and express his faith," Larry McCollum said.

Bailey's sister, Madison, took pictures of her little brother the day he died. Bailey would have turned 6 years old on Nov. 5.

He was the little boy who prompted another mother to send a Facebook message to the McCollums about Bailey's impact on her daughter.

"She just really liked Bailey. He was the only boy that she played with at school, and he was so kind to her,' Kirsten McCollum said. "And every night, she's praying for him, that he's having fun up in heaven, you know, where she'll see him again some day."

The McCollums said the love from the community has been amazing. It's helped give them strength.

"The support we've received and the prayers, it just shows how many hearts he's touched," Larry McCollum said.

"That's what I feel he was put here for, was to help other people have faith. And to see that God does have a plan, and we don't know why, and we don't always have to like it, but if you just keep praying about it, you're going to have peace," Kirsten McCollum said.

And so Bailey's legacy won't be another drunken driving statistic.

"To live, love and have faith. I think that should be his legacy and his message," Kirsten McCollum said.

The McCollums said they were blessed to have a joyful, fun loving, enthusiastic, intelligent ball of energy for nearly six years.

Bailey's big sister, who was driving their minivan the day they were hit, is back home from the hospital and doing OK.

The district attorney told WISN 12 News the man to blame for the crash, 29-year-old Marcus Thornton, remains in the hospital and is facing multiple charges including having open intoxicants in his car.

Sheriff's investigators said Thornton ran a stop sign last week in the town of Somers, hitting the McCollums' van.